My brand new car reeks!

I feel so stupid and I know better but my Fiesta ST reeks of gasoline. Both my son's and daughter's cars died yesterday in the minus 14 F (as in Freaking) cold temperature. In my daughter's case it was the battery in her 2009 Focus. In my experience batteries usually last more than 5 years but she has killed it so many times that I was not a bit surprised. My son's car, a 2002 Focus, has a brand new battery and turns over fine but just won't start. I expect it's a frozen fuel line as he typically does not put gas in until the low fuel light comes on and rarely has more than half a tank. So far I have put two bottles of gas treatment and one can of water remover with no luck.

So here's the stupid part. After replacing the battery in my daughter's car, which was an experience in itself including icicles hanging from my moustache, I stopped at the gas station and filled up my 2 gallon container which I planned to add the water remover to. I placed the container in the trunk and drove straight home BUT I took the corner into our sub too fast and I could hear the gas jug fall over on it's side. As soon as I pulled up in our driveway I opened the trunk to find gasoline everywhere! The vent cap was left open and my carpeted load floor, spare tire, jack and mat were all soaked in gas. DOH!

My son has the car at work since his vehicle is still out of commission and the load floor and mat (under the spare) are sitting out in the garage.

Any suggestions how to get rid of the gasoline smell? I plan on shampooing the carpet and maybe even soaking the mat in the laundry tub. As far as the gloves I was wearing when I removed everything out of the car? Anybody got a match?

I did something similar, but not with gasoline, with beer! I had a partial keg of homebrew I was bringing to a homebrew contest and the fitting leaked and dumped about a pint of beer in the back hatch area. Luckily, I had removed the load floor because I didn't know how to get it into the lower position, so that was not soaked but the spare tire mat was soaked and required several washings. I scrubbed the back as well as I could, but it still took a couple of weeks for the smell to completely disappear. Airing it out as much as possible after cleaning it thoroughly is the best. If possible, garage it and leave the hatch open with a fan blowing into the back.

Vinegar/water mixture works wonders on most anything with an odor. Of course then you have to deal with a vinegar smell for about a week, but when it clears up there's not residual. It also does a good just of cleaning up mold, oil, and other gunk.

I think you might be screwed. The best bet would be to remove the carpet and try to deodorize it out of the car. You might even cut out just the rear section. Trying to do it in the car would be a real PIA and be less likely to be successful. Sorry, I can't give you any suggestions for the actual deodorizing process.

There's some interesting ideas. The carpeted load floor is sitting out on the front porch and the mat for the spare tire is still in the garage. That ozone machine looks interesting but I might try baking soda or vinegar first. I do appreciate the suggestions. And I fixed my son's car. After pulling a few spark plugs that were completely dry I put a space heater under the front of the car and after about an hour the car very reluctantly started to fire, first on 2 or 3 cylinders and then eventually to an even idle. Took it to the gas station, filled it up and then made a beer run. It works just fine now and my son is back behind the wheel shopping and I have my Fiesta ST back which he said does not reek nearly as much as yesterday.

Oh and WScottCross I also home brew and am an active member over at the Mr. Beer Fans Forum. I'm just about to make the move to all grain with a BIAB kit. All I need is a bigger pot and the hops that Northern Brewer forgot to give me with my kit.

I once had a Costco-size bottle of Pine-Sol crack open in the trunk of my family's E36 sedan on the way home. We had to leave the windows open for a week and the car still smelled like somebody had concentrated the smell of an entire evergreen forest into the interior for as long as we owned it.

My ST currently smells like the race tires I picked up for a friend's car yesterday, can't complain about the smell of fresh high-performance rubber though.

Oh and WScottCross I also home brew and am an active member over at the Mr. Beer Fans Forum. I'm just about to make the move to all grain with a BIAB kit. All I need is a bigger pot and the hops that Northern Brewer forgot to give me with my kit.

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Nice! I did win the contest with an all grain Pumpkin Ale. I'm doing 10-12 5 gal batches each year and I like experimenting. Good luck with gas removal.

Fixed the smell of spilled kerosene by leaving a bag of charcoal in the car for a few days. Soaked the smell right up. I got the plain, ol charcoal, not the stuff with started fluid in it. The car smelled of charcoal after but it aired out easily.

Fixed the smell of spilled kerosene by leaving a bag of charcoal in the car for a few days. Soaked the smell right up. I got the plain, ol charcoal, not the stuff with started fluid in it. The car smelled of charcoal after but it aired out easily.

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Good advice! I know how much a few drops of gasoline can stink up a cabin!

I sprayed my trunk area again yesterday with vinegar and I have the carpeted load floor sitting on the front porch sprinkled with baking soda. The smell is getting better but it is not gone by any means. Also the windows are cracked and the sun roof popped airing out in the 45F southeast Michigan weather. At the same time I'm dealing with this I'm also trying to air out my basement after a pipe burst on Friday. Had about an inch and a half of water and some damage but my trusty wet vac and carpet shampooer have helped out a lot. It stinks in here and it stinks in my car. I need some fresh air! The good thing is think I've lost at least 2 or 3 pounds working my ass off vacuuming, cutting pipe, dumping water, moving stuff around etc.